


May the Fork be with you

by unlimitedcity



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Oneshot, markhyuck, side nomin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-07-07 16:38:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15912144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unlimitedcity/pseuds/unlimitedcity
Summary: Seriously, who uses a fork to eat a burger? Mark.





	May the Fork be with you

Haechan hates the evening shift more than anything in the world. He hated libraries for being too quiet but nothing beats the hollowness of fast food restaurants once the clock strikes 10PM onwards. He hated it not because he’d rather be at home catching up on that reality show he’s been watching… it was actually for a very unusual reason.

A person in particular.

Evening shifts in McDonald’s were slow. Once dinner time has passed, only a few passersby would stop for a take away. Haechan would spend the rest of his hours arranging chairs and tables, maybe chat with some of his co-workers but they were never enough for him.

Everything is bland. Despite the bright signage from across the counter, it feels dull.

Too much flatness can tire the sun – Haechan.

But this particular evening he hated the most. He wasn’t supposed to be here in the first place. However, a friend of his who works with him, Jaemin, asked him a favor.

“Please cover my evening shift for me!” Jaemin pleads, both his palms clamped towards Haechan with a chocolate bar in between.

“Did you actually think you can bribe me into this?” Haechan asks, feigning hurt. He continued wiping the fryers clean while Jaemin tailed him from behind.

“I swear I’ll make it up to you, it’s kind of an emergency,” the latter explains, casually sliding the chocolate bar towards Haechan’s direction.

Haechan swats the younger’s hand away, “I just wiped that!”

“Come on, I’ll pay for your lunch tomorrow,”

 _Hmm free food._ “Just tomorrow?”

“Three days,” Jaemin attempts to negotiate.

“Three days? This is abuse. You know how much I hate working in the evening and you’re only compensating with _three_ days?” Haechan pressed further.

An exasperated sigh left Jaemin’s lips, “A _week._ That is all I can offer,”

Haechan extends his right hand with a sly grin, “You have yourself a deal, Nana,”

Jaemin rolls his eyes yet takes his hand anyway. “Don’t call me that,”

“Oh, is it because only your boyfriend gets to call you that?” Haechan teased, poking the other.

“Shut up,” Jaemin responds with a faint tint of red across his cheeks, “get back to work!”

“I’m taking that chocolate too by the way,” Haechan smoothly retrieves the bar from Jaemin’s hand before the other could retort.

“Finders keepers!”

 _Emergency my ass_. Haechan thinks to his self.

Just this afternoon, as soon as Jaemin’s shift ended, his boyfriend, eyesmile dude (a nickname he’s given since he doesn’t really know what’s-his-name which he is very fond of using), came to pick Jaemin up.

 _You’re going on a date?_ Haechan mouthed towards Jaemin with disbelief written all over his face.

Jaemin winked at him waving a hand, “Emergency!” he shouts back before running out of the establishment.

_Sneaky bastard._

“Uh, I’d like to order now,” his thoughts were disturbed when a customer finally came up to his counter.

“Sure, what can I get for you,” Haechan turns his gaze to the person before him only to be disappointed by the sight. _Ugh it’s him again._

If there was something Haechan hated the most during evening shifts it wasn’t the slow pace of time… it was this person… standing before him with disheveled hair, oversized hoodie, half opened backpack… seriously what a mess.

He doesn’t even need to ask, this person orders the same thing over and over again. Without waiting for the person to finish speaking, Haechan punched the order as if it’s been a daily routine he’s grown accustomed to.

“Oh, it’s you again. Hi!” Haechan gave him a look of disbelief. He wasn’t even trying to hide his distaste. It’s okay, the person on the other end was dense as heck. He’s like an idiot who can’t comprehend a sign of hostility towards him.

“Uh yeah, hi,” Haechan proceeds to place his orders on the tray. Really, why is he even over his counter when there’s like another open counter?

He turned to take another look at the guy. He was actually cute. If it wasn’t for his overwhelming stupidity and second hand embarrassment scenarios, Haechan would’ve attempted to flirt with him. But things didn’t turn out like that.

“Don’t forget my fork,” _fork?_ It took a good second before Haechan could process the request. _Of course he needs a fork. He always needs one._

This was the reason why Haechan never bothered to flirt with the guy.

Who eats burgers with a fork? In this civilized country of South Korea? A fork? Really?

With a fake smile on his lips, Haechan dumps a handful of fork on his tray, “ _Enjoy,_ your meal,”

The latter smiled brightly, completely unbothered, “Thanks, Haech!”

Haechan almost choked on his spit. Since when were they close enough to be on a nickname basis?

_Nicknames huh? Okay, I’ll call you fork guy weirdo from now on. Fork guy cutie nickname has been revoked._

The guy sat a good seats away from the counter and Haechan finally let out a breath of relief. Glancing towards the clock, he had more than 30 minutes left before his shift ends. _Finally._

What was he thinking about again before fork guy showed up? He’s forgotten about it now. Was it about Jaemin? He’s not sure. All that’s left in his thoughts was this hanging question of: _Did I give him enough forks?_

It didn’t take a break of sweat before the guy was back by his counter, “Well, this is embarrassing, but can I ask for-“

“More forks?” Haechan asked pointing the obvious.

“Yeah, I broke mine again while cutting the burger,” the guy says rubbing the back of his neck.

“Didn’t I give you a handful this time?”

“Yeah, my hands were full with them and they broke… all of them… kinda?”

“You are unbelievable!” Haechan exclaimed grabbing another handful of fork, “Tell me,” he started, crossing his arms, refusing to hand over the forks just yet, “Why do you use a fork when you eat your damn burger? Are your hands not enough? I mean I’m sure God gave you two for a reason? To eat burgers with both your damn hands! You hold it like this,” Haechan attempts to demonstrate, placing the forks down grabbing an imaginary burger midair, “and you eat it like this,” Haechan bites from the imaginary burger emitting a hum of fake delight, “See? That’s how you should be eating a burger! Christ are you barbarian or something?”

The guy across him doubles in laughter. His face contorts into a squint and he held onto the counter to support himself from falling over for laughing too much.

“I’m not joking?!” Haechan exclaims.

“I know,” fork guy tried to calm his self. “You’re really cute,”

“Excuse me?”

“I said,” he says, finally composed from laughing, “You’re really really really cute,”

Haechan blinks. “Are we in some kind of hidden camera or have you completely lost your mind?”

“You’re blushing,”

“Am not!” Haechan denies yet takes a quick peak at the monitor in front of him to make sure he wasn’t blushing.

“Tell me you’re not blushing again,” fork guy says before leaning in closer towards Haechan.

All the heat rose up to Haechan’s cheeks and he couldn’t help but feel so vulnerable… and shy.

“I think there’s something wrong with you. First, you use fork on burgers and now you’re blatantly trying to flirt with me out of nowhere. Do you want me to take you to the hospital?”

“I want to take you out on a date,”

“I’m calling the cops!”

“Hey!” fork guy stopped Haechan from turning around by reaching out for his arm. “Sorry, that came out of nowhere but can you please hear me out?”

Haechan wasn’t sure but he remained quiet and unmoving.

“Ok so, when I said you were cute that was true. And I wasn’t flirting with you out of nowhere, I’ve been trying to flirt with you every single time your cute face is on this counter. It frustrates me how you always don’t get the message. I don’t use fork to eat my burger… okay maybe I do but I break the fork on purpose just so I can have an excuse to walk right up to you again. When I said I wanted to take you out on a date, I wasn’t lying. I’ve been wanting to take you out on a date the moment you first rolled your eyes on me,”

Haechan couldn’t feel his face, was it because it was burning too much?

“Am I freaking you out?”

“You think?” Haechan chokes on his words. “And you call that flirting? Breaking forks on purpose? You’re an idiot,”

“Yeah, I’m not really skilled in that department so, I guess I _am_ an idiot,”

“You’re cute too, you know. But embarrassing,”

A shy smile spread across fork guy’s lips.

“Do you still need these forks?” Haechan asks, holding up the forks he spread across the counter.

“Nah, I’ll just eat them with my hands,”

Fork guy gave him another smile before turning around. “Wait,” Haechan called out.

He turned back with a confused expression painted across his face.

“I didn’t get your name. It’s unfair how you know mine because of this stupid name tag and I don’t know yours. Or should I just continue calling you fork guy?”

“It’s Mark,” he says.

“ _Mark,_ ” the name rolled off his tongue tastefully sweet.

“You owe me a date for all the plastic forks you’ve broken,”

“What would you like for that date then?”

Haechan takes a minute to think, “Pizza?”

“Deal,”

“Please don’t tell me you eat them with a fork too,” this time, a silly grin was on Haechan’s lips.


End file.
